Ron Lamb remembers the day 21 years ago before the start of Union Colony Schools' inaugural year when the school's teachers were let into the building to pick out their classrooms. There was one problem: By the time Lamb got there, all the classrooms were taken. He didn't have one.

"I still don't," Lamb said with a laugh to a crowd of about 200 Union Colony students, faculty, staff and community members Wednesday afternoon.

That won't be a problem much longer. Union Colony Preparatory School broke ground on its new school building Wednesday. The school's current building at 2000 Clubhouse Drive is a former American Legion building constructed in 1964. It's sufficed for 21 years but always had its flaws: narrow hallways, basement classrooms with no windows, a shortage of classroom space in general and a lack of basic safety designs, such as a clear line of site from the front office to the entrance. The new $7 million facility should fix all those problems.

Andrew Cook, a junior at Union Colony, said he grew up around the school because his parents taught there. He remembers chatter about a new building for years and is excited about the "fresh start" the building will provide now that it's a reality, even if he's nostalgic about saying goodbye to the one he spent so much time in.

Construction of the new building will start in earnest at the end of next week, said Jim Anderson, director of Union Colony Schools. The new building will be built on the field directly east of the current building. Construction will proceed through the end of the school year and the summer, and the current building will be demolished after the end of the school year. The gym is the only existing structure that will remain. Construction is scheduled to end Aug. 7, in time for the 2018-19 school year.

— Tommy Wood covers education and Evans city government for The Tribune. You can reach him at (970) 392-4470, twood@greeleytribune.com or on Twitter @woodstein72.